


Rewind

by z3phyrboi107



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, M/M, Multi, Time Loop
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-10
Updated: 2019-11-10
Packaged: 2021-01-27 06:43:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,121
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21387829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/z3phyrboi107/pseuds/z3phyrboi107
Summary: Ouma Kokichi wakes up in a locker.
Relationships: Momota Kaito & Oma Kokichi, Oma Kokichi & Shinguji Korekiyo & Yonaga Angie, Oma Kokichi/Saihara Shuichi
Comments: 16
Kudos: 285





	1. Chapter 1

_Goodbye,my beloved Saihara chan._

The cold silver sky of a metal press loomed over Ouma’s dying form,his bare back burning from the remnants of warmth on the galaxy beneath him.His fingers twitched weakly as he heard the click of Momota pressing the start button,and amethyst eyes closed for the last time in his life.

The metal press came down in a spray of vivid pink.

And Ouma Kokichi woke up in a locker with his whole body aching.

_Huh?_

_How can this….?_

He pushed open the door of the locker and stumbled out,meeting the sight of a cardboard box filled storeroom,bright white lights and-

“Hello!It is nice to meet you!I am K1-B0,the Ultimate Robot.”

Kiibo’s electric blue LED eyes stared back at Ouma,and his gaze is friendly and calm(much unlike how he had glared at Ouma when he had gotten to know him.)

Purple eyes linger on the robot’s metal plates and the lines of code beeping around his neck.

“Ouma Kokichi.”He introduces himself with haste,”Ultimate Supreme Leader.”

“Hello,Ouma kun!”Kiibo-Kiiboy? says.

And Ouma ignores him,his ears filled with the faint sound of incoming footsteps.

The door opens and Saihara chan nearly crashes into him.

The detective stumbles back as Kaede strides in and he stutters out apologies to Ouma,pulling his hat nervously over his face to cover red blushing cheeks.

Blubber,blubber,Kaede speaks,and Ouma remembers the leader who lied to them and ended up hanging over a piano,her face blue from as she choked to death.

Kaede’s alive now,and Saihara chan doesn’t hate him,so maybe this is Ouma’s second chance?(or the afterlife.)

Ouma wonders if he’s dreaming because there is no way that he’d get to redeem his mistakes.

“Hey!Saihara chan!”The words burst impulsively out of his mouth as Saihara continues his nervous stream of apologies and Ouma can’t help grinning.

_Nishishi_.

“Huh?How...How do you know my name?”

The detective stares at him in surprise and Kaede and Kiiboy turn to him too.

Ouma backpedals.”Nehehehehee.I’m a Supreme Leader of Evil!Of course i know your name.I know everyyyything about you!”

Saihara looks suspicious and Ouma chastises himself for forgetting that this was a new game and nobody knows him and he’s supposed to know nobody.

The bell saves him, along with Monokuma’s announcement for them to gather at the gym,and everything happens in the same order as last time.Monokuma cackles about the killing game and everyone explodes into various reactions of shock and surprise.

Ouma remembers this happening and he doesn’t stray from his self imposed script as he chuckles and talks about how murder is interesting and not boring.

Tenko screams:Degenerate male! at his words and he gets various looks of disgust as the first motive is given.

He ignores it all,he remembers this part and what he needs to do right now,is find his whiteboard and paper and start planning again.

(He should be doing that anyway)

He doesn’t.

Kaede and Saihara chan leave together,plotting a plan to catch the mastermind.Tenko runs to Yumeno,who yawns and stretches.Gonta booms off in search for his precious bugs and Iruma races off to her already opened Ultimate Inventor lab.And like last time, Amami takes his Monopad and disappears.

Ouma catches up with Amami.”Amami chan!”He calls.”Can i come with you?”

_Amami had been killed last time by the mastermind because he was alone.If he_

_goes with them,he can save them….right?_

Amami is reluctant to nod,but Ouma is persistant because he knows Amami’s fate,and he ends up tagging along and clinging to the other’s arm as they chuckle softly,rubbing Ouma’s hair and asking why a Supreme Leader takes so much interest in someone with amnesia.

“You don’t know who you are,do you,Amami chan!So lets find out together!”

Ouma and Amami pass by the gym,and Ouma sees Kaede scurry out without Saihara out of the corner of his eye.Amami stops and waves at her,and her hand tightens on the strap of her white backpack.Ouma wants to call her out on her horribly rushed plan of murder,but Amami is unsuspecting,too unsuspecting of her,and Ouma knows Kaede won”t be the true culprit in the end anyway.

Its Ouma who points out the entrance to the Death Road of Despair this time,even if he knows they won’t manage to escape through it,and they try,and fail to get through,and they blame him for it(He doesn”t wonder why).

“Ouma kun was just trying to help us!”Amami stands up for him,even though they”re tired too,and the Ouma feels respect for the green haired boy as he lets a out quiet giggle from his place on the floor_.He supposes that Amami is his friend this time.But does he really deserve a friend after everything he did?_

Later,Momota calls a meeting,at the exact same time as he did in the last game.Most of them gather,aside from Ouma,Amami,four others,and Saihara chan and Kaede,who had their own plan.

“Wait here.”Amami tells Ouma outside the door to the library,his face strained and worried and his fingers turns white from clenching his monopad too hard.

Ouma nods,crossing his fingers behind his back,and Amami smiles and leaves him.

He tiptoes after them as soon as he hears the sound of a bookcase being moved,and he makes sure that they won’t notice him as he peeks out slowly from behind a bookcase.

Now that Ouma knows what to look for,he can see Kaede”s trap carefully hidden on the top of the bookcase,a camera attached to the shelf,and Iruma’s drone above their heads.

Flash!The white light from the camera blinks on,and there’s an audible click as a picture of Amami is taken.

Like last time,Amami pauses and goes over to the camera,examining it and shutting it off carefully.

Ouma prepares to bolt out,his legs tense as he waits for something,anything,to happen.

And there's a light ‘Thunk’ as Kaede’s shotput ball rolls down the chute and down the pathway.

Amami turns barely in time for the metal ball to shoot pass his head and land on the floor behind him.He stares at it,bemused,and Ouma knows he’s trying to process the fact that someone(Kaede) just tried to kill him.

And the hidden door creaks open,and blue hair flicks into both of their line of sights and Shirogane emerges like a mouse from a their secret hole._Shirogane,why hadn”t he ever expected that!Her talent should have been a giveaway!_Ouma cursed himself in his mind as Shirogane holds her own shotput ball high,glasses gleaming as the mastermind prepares to murder.

“Amami chan!”Ouma screams and he runs to knock Amami away from her weapon.He throws himself in front of the green haired boy,and there’s a crack and hazy pain and Ouma crumpled to the floor,his hair and the side of his head covered in blood.

_Amami will live though,and that’s what-_

Somewhere in the distance,there”s another crack,and Amami’s strings are cut too as he falls with a thump next to Ouma.

Pink showers the carpet floor,and the world turns black.


	2. Chapter 2

Ouma Kokichi wakes up in a locker, his head ringing with the sound of a shotput ball impacting with his skull.

_So trying to stop the mastermind from killing Amami chan straight up was a bad idea, wasn't it?_ He rubs his sore head as he contemplates what went wrong._Pretty much everything, huh? _

Well at least he knows that he will wake up when he dies again and again until he accomplishes his goal.

_Whatever his goal is_.

Ouma steps out of the locker and Kiibo greets him again with those lamplight eyes and he just nods and smiles and waits eagerly for Saihara chan and Kaede to rush in.

Saihara steps in without Kaede, and Ouma's taken by shock when the Detective doesn't stammer as he talk.

“I’m Shuuichi Saihara,"He introduces,tipping his hat up instead of down, and Ouma takes it in stride as he grins and clings to Saihara chan like he had wanted to the first time.

And the announcement plays, they meet in the gym, and this time Kaede is standing with Maki as Saihara asks Ouma questions about his 'evil organization' and Ouma answers them with more lies than he can count.

The motive is given, and Rantaro tells Tsumugi how he wants to end the Killing Game. Ouma sees Tsumugi's glasses reflect blood and an iron ball, and he wonders if this loop will end like the last one.

It doesn't.

Ouma stops Amami before he can enter the library, starting an argument over weed and smoking?He's trying to distract them, and they seem to know it, as they grow more and more desperate when the time limit ticks down.

Saihara chan creeps past their backs without either of them noticing,preocccupied in their conversation as they are, and there's a faint snap as the camera takes _his_ photo and the groan of the bookcase opening, Amami snaps to attention and Ouma's eyes widen as he realises. _Oh shit OH SHIT_.

''Saihara kun!'' Amami yells and he bolts into the library with Ouma hot on his heels. They are too late though, and Saihara chan's lying on the floor instead, his black blue hair smattered with pink flower, a bloodied dictionary lying on the floor next to him.

The trial goes relatively quickly, and Kaede spits out lies for her new friend and Maki stays silent while Amami stares at Ouma apologetically the whole time as he grits his teeth and rebuts Kaede's words.

Maki's the culprit, and Kaede's in on her crime, but the Ultimate Assassin was the one who rushed in and out of the library to smack Saihara chan senseless with the closest object she could find while the pianist distracted and kept everyone out of the way.

_Well, at least we can be sure that Kaede won't be the leader of the group now_.Ouma thought blandly as Maki was pelted with swords and spears and knives and died with her head held high, her expression solid stone as she was impaled through the chest.

In another world where Maki didn't trust anyone enough, Saihara chan and Maki would both live till the end, and Kaede would be hanging from her neck, suffocated, instead of making those ugly sobbing sounds in a corner of the trial room.

''Hey, maybe Amami chan should be the leader.''Tsumugi speaks up later, her voice sounding like a wet sopping sponge (maybe its just Ouma and he hates her so he hears that?),''After all, he led us all during the trial, right.''

''Didn't you guys think I was suspicious just a few days ago?''

Momota pats the avocado haired Ultimate ??? on the shoulder, and reassures him that that's all over and no one's suspecting them anymore since he can be trusted. 

Tenko agrees, even as she calls him a degenerate male, and the rest show their approval with nods and a muted chorus, aside from Kaede, who refused to even leave her room to have breakfast with the rest.

Amami manages a wry smile.

Ouma wonders if Amami would be better at being the glue that holds their ragtag band together than his Saihara chan.

He sees the same question in their eyes.

The second motive is given, and Ouma tricks Gonta into holding another Insect meet and greet, sneaking off to collect Monopads and hiding Kirumi and Hoshi's ones in his room when its time to give them back.

_That would prevent another murder from happening_. He convinces himself, and it does buy them some more time since nothing unusual happens during Yumeno's magic show and Hoshi's still alive the next morning, chewing on his candy cigarettes and sounding as dry as a cracked leaf.

Ouma probably jinxed it.

He supposes it no surprise when Tenko's scream echoes through the hallways of the academy when she thinks to open the door of Kaede's talent lab and finds the blonde girl slumped on the chair of her piano, head bent, hands on the keys,blood dripping from the back of her neck and a peaceful smile on her face.

''Tenko...Tenko doesn't k..know what happened!'' She blubbers, waving her hands in panic.'' Tenko went i..in to find Kaede because she didn't eat for so many days and Tenko was worried!T..tenko...Tenko has nothing to do with this, Tenko swears!''

Angie smiles and bobs from sides to side.''Kaede is with Kami sama now, Tenko!Don't worry about her!She's with Maki now!Yes yes!''

Ouma wonder's if the Angie's being too peppy for the occasion, and Tenko looks like she agrees with him, as she forces a,''Tenko's glad?'' from pursed lips.

Later,Angie turns up dead too, and her body is hung from the ceiling of Gonta's lab,with a matching slash across her throat.

Ouma stares at her the lifeless white haired girl and thinks:_Her God doesn't even spare his believers.....maybe he's just plain cruel, or he doesn't exist after all._

And Angie's corpse seems to frown at him for his atheist thoughts as Shinguuji comes up from behind and 'Kukuku''s at the irony of one of Angie's statements and her untimely fate.

Ouma already knows who's guilty this time.

''How could you!"Ouma leans against the front of his podium as Yumeno wails and cries, Tenko doing her best to comfort the red haired girl.''You sick twisted-Y..you!How could you do this to Angie！To Kaede!Y..you killed them both in cold blood!"

Salty tears and snot run down Yumeno's face and Tenko looks like she wants to just run over and snap Shinguuji's neck for what he did if it wasn't for the rules holding her back.And Shinguuji just stares calmly like the snake he is, a faint satisfied smile plastered on his rose red lips as his 'dear sister' speaks through her brother's vessel.

Ouma wants to laugh when Shinguuji is executed for the second time in Ouma's memories,but he doesn't, and its almost strangely hilarious to him when they melt into nothing but mist at their sister's hands. Shinguuji was as wrong as they had been in the first loop, and he thinks that maybe that wrongness would be the only constant in his loops.

''Ouma kun.'' Shirogane comes up to him after the execution, and Amami looks their way before chasing after Tenko and Yumeno(maybe he wanted to apologize for his horrible leadership?It wasn't horrible, not really.)"Before the murders happened....you stole our monopads....'' She hesitated, nervously fidgeting with the hem of her dress.

''Yes?And I returned them didn't I?'' He glares back at her because she's the mastermind and she has some interior motive, no matter how shy and innocent she sounds.

‘’You...did you return them all?'' Shirogane pesters.''I don't mean to pry but....''

There's a pause.''Of course i did.''Ouma lies, thinking of Kirumi and Hoshi's motive videos, which he had stuffed into a unopened crate of Panta.''Why would a Supreme Leader like me lie to you about something like that,nishishishi.''

And he turns to walk away from her, feeling the heat of her gaze burn into his back.

A few days pass, without any motives or anything special,and Ouma spends most of his time with Amami, who humours him and chuckles at his 'Thats a lie!','Thats's a lie too!'.Ouma starts thinking that Amami's cool, and there's a reason that he gravitated towards the other boy in the original timeline before they died.

Ouma invites Amami to have a 'tea party' in the dining hall , and Amami accepts. Kirumi pours the tea from the teapot into their fragile porcelain cups,a steadily steaming stream of jasmine. Rantaro chuckles, and Kirumi looks at them with what looks like barely hidden anger in her eyes.

''Ouma kun.''She whispers to him, and he looks at her in surprise. It was out of character for her to speak to those she considered to be her master's during her time of service,so it must be something of importance.''Can you meet me in your room after tea?''

Ouma giggles,''Mom I never knew you were so straightforward!''

Kirumi's stern expression didn't change, and his cheekiness ebbs away like the tide of the sea which he faintly remembers to be turqoise.

''Okay,mom. Why not.''

Amami leaves just before the Nighttime announcement plays, and he thanks Ouma for the tea with a smile.

''Its no problem,Amami chan!''He replies, a warm feeling in his chest when the other bids him goodnight.

Ouma pushes open the door to his dorm, and Kirumi is there, waiting for him next to his whiteboard which was left unmarked during his socialising.

''Ouma kun.''She greets.

''Hey,mom!So what do you want me for?Nehehehe, meeting up in my room sure is suspicious,isn't it？Are you sure no one will suspect us of anything? "

''I made sure no one saw me.''Kirumi states,stalking towards the stacked crates next to the board. Ouma watches her pace, arms folded behind his head, a friendly smile on his face as she reaches into one , half expecting her to pull out some dirty laundry he forgot to give her and scold him for his messiness.

His mind goes blank.

Kirumi holds out one of the motive videos he hid away(for good reason),her features left carefully calm. ''I want you to explain this to me,Ouma kun.Why do you have mine and Hoshi kun's monopads.Why did you keep them to yourself.''

''........''

''Who told you about them?''

''Shirogane san did. She saw you make away with them the night of the insect meet and greet.''

_Of course it was Shirogane._ Ouma thought. _No wonder their were no more motives yet, she had planned for this to happen, hadn't she?_

''I'm glad she did.''Kirumi continues,''Or else i wouldn't have known what you were trying to hide from me, Ouma kun.You watched my video and you knew there was a chance I may attempt murder to get out, right?''

''That's the truth.''Ouma doesn't deny it.

''You knew there was a country at risk, a country I was responsible for, and you still didn't let me watch my video.''

"There's a reason these are motive videos, mom!''Ouma insists because he's right and she's wrong and he's doing this for her own good.''Plus, nishishi, I'm not letting the Ultimate Maid watch it if even I, the Supreme Leader of Evil hasn't watched mine!You know I have a whollle organization out there,right?''

（Of course, Ouma knows what's in his, but thats not the point.)

Kirumi smiles at him gently,''So this is you being selfish, Ouma kun.‘’

''Of courseeeee!''

"Well then...''

''I'm sorry， Ouma kun.'' And she does look genuinely apologetic. Ouma thinks that maybe she's turning back?Or reconsidering her choices?

''I guess you were right about me attempting murder.''She says." But i suppose if you are a evil leader of a crime organization, i would be doing the country good anyway.''

Ouma opens his mouth to protest:_No, he didn't specify that he led a crime organization what the actual hell_ or to run away from her, but Kirumi lunges, and rough rope winds its way around his throat and he gags as the Ultimate Maid who had served him not a few hours ago strangled him to death.

Ouma chokes on nothingness,and his world turns black.


	3. Chapter 3

Ouma Kokichi wakes up in a locker,with the phantom sensation of a straw rope winding its way around his neck.

He doesn't wait in the darkness,and he rubs his neck thoughtfully as he steps out,telling himself:

_I'll end the killing game this time.I'll end it before it has a chance to start._

Kiibo smiles at him, blue eyes whirring brightly, and he nods at the robot absentmindedly as he reminds himself that they were a camera?Traitor? for the mastermind and thy were not trustworthy.

(Not that that was really Kiiboy's fault.)

The announcement plays and Ouma drags Kiibo down the corridor to the gym without a word.

The motive is announced and the game is announced, and Ouma thinks:_Boring_. As the gym explodes into chaos and loud cries of outrage and horror as everyone starts reacting at once.

A few feet in front of him, Tenko screams and he tucks himself deeper into his corner of the room before she notices him and accuses him of being a degenerate male.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Shinguuji staring at him in curiousity.

Monokuma disappears, and Ouma skips over to the long haired boy, a farce grin on his face as he introduces himself.

''Hey, I'm Kokichi Ouma!The Ultimate Supreme Leader!'' He pulls on their hair as their gold hazel eyes scrutinize him like a cat would study their prey._He's feels lucky that he's not a girl, because he knows all too clearly what nasty creature is hidden beneath the mask, and he doesn't want to come face to face with it again._

''You're... quite interesting.....'' Shinguuji finally says, raising a bandage wrapped hand to his face.

Ouma hums in agreement.

Shinguji lets out a silent 'Kukuku' in reply, moving to distangle Ouma's fingers from his attempt to make tiny braids in their hair.

Ouma's expression falters, and he lets go, letting blue black strands flop back into place as Shinguuji's hand is cold as a corpse, and he has a vision of a door unlocking with a click, and a white haired artist lying on wooden boards.He lets his hand fall to his side, and he turns away as his mind fills with disgust.

_Shinguuji's a would be murderer._He reminds himself as he walks away.

And the one way Ouma can think of to stop them-and everyone else from killing again would be to end the mastermind himself.

(He hopes that that would end these stupid loops anyway.)

The kitchen's thankfully empty when he enters,and its not much of an effort to find the knife rack in a cabinet.He randomly grabs one,the sharpest one he sees,and wraps it in a cloth before he stuffs it into his clothes.(Ha,wouldn't it be a joke if he stabbed himself accidentally?)

Toujou enters,and Ouma looks up from his bottle of Panta,his feet propped on the table,a arm behind his head.

"Hey mom!"

Toujou shoos him out.

The night announcement plays all too soon,and Ouma tiptoes through the hallways until he reaches Shirogane"s room,pausing at the door.

There's no one around,but he's alert for the mechanical bugs that report to her.He doesn"t think she knows his plans yet,and if she did,he would have no chance of stopping her.

He knocks three times,and the knife feels like ice on his skin even through the cloth.

Shirogane peeks out of her room,a bespectacled eye wide and blue."Ouma kun?"She questions,holding the door in a way that would shield the contents of her room."What are you doing here so late?"

Ouma mustered the most pitiful face he could and stared up at her with childlike eyes."I was lonely,Shirogane chan...."He begun."And...the time limit's so close....Even a Supreme Leader like me is scared,you know!I don"t want to die yet.."

Shirogane stared.

He turned on the waterworks and sniffled loudly,letting a few fat salty tear drip down his cheeks to convince her furthur.

"Why don't you go to Shuuichi kun?"She asked him quietly after a moment,pushing her glasses up with a finger."You certainly seemed interested in him this afternoon....."

Ouma looked down at him feet,hanging his head."My beloved Saihara chan is busy with Kaede chan......I don"t want to embarrass myself...and you seemed the most understanding..Shirogane chan.."He let out another sob.

When he looked up,Shirogane's gaze was soft(was she faking?Most likely)

"Its fine,Ouma kun."She answered with sympathy in her voice."You can talk to me if you want.I'll just go clear up my cosplay stuff first,okay?Wait here."

Ouma nods and she shuts the door.

For a moment,he hesitates to kill her.She was nice to him...maybe she didn"t choose to be the mastermind?

_NO!Shirogane got so many of us killed.Its her fault and only hers._

He hears her shuffling inside as she tries to clear up all evidence of her crimes and he hardens his heart,touching the handle of the knife beneath his shirt as if to reassure himself.

The door opened again.

"Hey,"She said,"You can come in now."

Ouma smiled at her thankfully and she shut the door after him.

"So....you couldn"t sleep too,Shirogane chan?"

She shrugged,taking a seat on her bed as she swept a piece of red cloth off her pillow."I guess if it really is our last night....i might as well do something i love."

"Sewing?"

"I make all my cosplays myself,Ouma kun."

"Oh."

"Speaking of...."She glanced at him."Didn"t you say you had a organization of a million members?Why are you even worried?"

"...."

"Maybe that was a lie."He confessed.

"So you don't?"

"....i'm a liar so who knows."

She sighed.

"I'm just scared because I"m such a easy target,Shirogane chan.If....if anyone wants to murder,and they find out i'm not as powerful as they say i am....."

He trails off in his lie.

"Ouma kun...I don"t think anyone would want to kill you,really...."

He looks up at her with glossy eyes and scoots a bit closer,letting crocodile tears well up."I'm terrified,okay?"He wails,salty streams pouring down his face."Thats the truth!"

It isn"t,and Ouma wonders if he went a bit overboard and would Shirogane kick him out because she knows he's overacting?

She doesn't seem to catch on to him though(guess he's still that good of an actor),and she wraps her arms around him and tucks her head against the crook of her neck awkwardly(she's taller than him).

"Don't worry,"She comforts,"You won't die,i'll make sure of it."

Ouma knows she could,but she won't,for the sake of the show she's directing.Shirogane's just following the script she wrote,but Ouma has strayed from his part already.

He slides the knife out of his shirt,and poses it above Shirogane's back.

"I won't."He whispers to her in agreement."I'll make sure you don't hurt anyone after all."

She stiffens against him,and he hears her try to speak-

Ouma drives the knife down and pink splashes over his pale skin.

She slumps against him,lifeless and heavy,and he drops the bloodied knife on her white bedsheets,watching the mastermind's blood soak onto the cloth as he waits for the speakers to crackle with the announcement that the killing game was over or anything to happen.

A second passed,then a minute,then a couple more minutes.

Ouma's blood ran cold.

_Fuck. _He hadn't thought that the fleeting possibity that the game wouldn't end if the mastermind died would actually manage to make itself true.

He pushed Shirogane's body off himself with trembling hands,and she landed on the floor with a sickening thump,spreadeagled.

Ouma swallowed as her blank eyes met his,and he stood and hurried away with haste,locking her door after him.

"Hey,where's Shittygane?"Iruma asks the next morning when they meet up for breakfast.Kaede echoes her question and suspicion rustles up within the group like a storm.

Ouma pretends to shrug carelessly from his seat."Who cares about that stupid cosplayer.She's probably sleeping or something."

He silently wills them to _please don"t go look for her,whatever you do._

"Tenko's going to wake her up!"The black haired girl bounces up and leaves the room,pulling Yumeno after her.Amami gives Kaede a look,and follows on their heels.

"Ding dong!"The screen cackles to life and Tenko races back,stammering wildly."A body has been discovered!"Monokuma 'upupupupus'."Turns out one of you brats did have to nerve to commit murder after all!"

"What?!"Iruma throws her fork down."Which of you fuckin virgins-"

Saihara looks like he's about to throw up and Ouma clenches his teeth as Monokuma asks the guilty party to step forward and take their prize.

He doesn't,and Monokuma's eye glows red as they jeer about someone really wanting a class trial.

They investigate,accusations are thrown and Ouma feels numb because really,the clues that point to him don"t exist,and it could have been anybody since he knows how to act and not slip up.Tenko's convinced its a boy who's guilty(she's actually right this time),and Toujou's name is put out once or twice while the maid defends herself with grace.

"Ouma kun,what about you?"Kaede asks."You don't have a alibi."

"None of us do though,Kaede chan!"He points out."But sure,you're right.Its me who killed Shirogane!Nishishi!"

"OUMA KUN?"Gonta exclaims in shock.

Saihara sighs,"He's just lying."

And they believe the detective,because,hey,Ouma always lies,and nobody really thought that it was actually him who did it,with how tiny he was.

He wants to scream that they're stupid,because that was a confession and they didn't take it?

He wonders if he should be relived that their attention is off him,or scared that they'll all die.

"Kukuku...."Shinguuji laughs when the fingers are pointed at him after a long 2 hours of useless,pointless words."Do i really seem like the kind of person who would commit murder?"

"Nyeh...."

"Shinguuji kun's the murderer!Thats what Atua tells us!"Angie sways from side to side,beaming.

"Well..."Amami gives the long haired boy a contemplating look."Yes."

"Then i suppose i shouldn't mention that....."Molten eyes catch Ouma's and he looks up from his fingers to see Shinguuji's staring at him with a hint of amusement."I saw Ouma kun take a knife from the kitchen yesterday."

Ouma's heart starts beating again.

"AND YOU DIDN"T THINK TO MENTION THAT EARLIER?!"Tenko shrieks at him."You filthy-"

They ignore her.

"Shitgoojeez probably thought it would be an example of humanity's beauty."Iruma spits.

"Huh?Huh?Huh?"Angie backtracks.

"Ouma kun..?"Kaede focuses on him again,and Ouma feels the slightest hint of a smirk force itself on the corner of his lips.

"I did tell you i killed her."He spreads his arms."You were sooooo dumb and thought i was lying!"

"So Ouma kun did it."Amami concludes."That....doesn't explain why Shirogane's room was locked though."

"He can pick locks."Maki speaks up from her corner and Momota gives her a surprised glance.

"Nyahahahaha! Shittygane was so desperate for some fuck before we all flopped that she let shota boy in to impale her with that knife. "

"Not everyone's a bitch in heat like you,you filthy cumdumpster!"Ouma shoots back at her and she withers visibly under his insult.

"Although,she did let me in easily enough,nishishi.She was too trusting,wasn"t she.She should have known better."

The trial goes smoothly after that,and Ouma stares up at the screen that blinks with pixelated flowers and his face and the large glowing words,'GUILTY!'

"Why did you do it,Ouma kun..."Kaede asks him with sadness in her pale pink eyes,and he knows that if he hadn"t done it,it would be her who killed Amami chan instead.

(At least he saved Saihara chan the heartbreak of losing her this time.)

"She's the mastermind."He replies simply,and he sees her eyes widen and her mouth move into a 'o' before metal clamps around his neck and he's flying through the air as his scarf flutters loose to the ground.

White and black tiles come into view,and Ouma's dropped roughly onto hard stone.

The rope drags him to his feet before he can recover from the fall,and he gasps as it tightens around his neck and digs into his skin like the noose had done to Kaede during_ her _execution .

It pulls him forward,and he's taken into a crowd of awaiting Monokuma's that wear obnoxiously smiling clown masks which he remembers from his motive videos.

There's a loud 'crack',and then a stinging sensation as a thin strip of leather comes in contact with his back.Warm liquid pours over his back as the cloth of his shirt tears opens from the force of the whip.

There's another loud crack from the side,and his back is on fire as another whip is brought onto his skin.The rope jolts him forward again,and he somehow manages to stumble and claw at his throat and scream at the same time,his hair falling into his eyes as agony pierces his body when he's forcefully moved.

Leather batters his body,gashes slashing across his skin as he makes his way to a wooden stage.Through a haze of suffocating pain and blood,he sees the silver gleam of metal and a monokuma cold rotund shape makes contact with his tattered back.He falls forward from the impact,and a final terrified scream claws it way out of his battered,broken form.

The gulliotine drops,blood sprays across a stage,and Ouma's world goes dark.


	4. Chapter 4

Ouma Kokichi wakes up in a locker,his body stinging with the memory of whips and wooden gulliotines.

_He had watched the executions before,but he had never really guessed how much it would hurt to be executed himself._

_Well,he guessed he knew now._

He stands in that cramped metal space for a while more,leaning on the walls and wondering if it would be better if he just stayed in there._The Exisals can”t get in and force me out,right? _

Outside the locker,he hears Kiibo moving around and tapping on the locked windows as if looking for a way out.

Ouma closes his eyes,treasuring the restful darkness.

A few moments later,the door opens,and footsteps pitter patter towards his hiding placel.(Hiding place?)

There’s a huff of breath outside,and he cracks one eye open to see a pink violet eye peek in through the three slits in the metal curiously.

“Hey!”Kaede asks gently.”Are you in there?”

Ouma doesn”t reply,and the door swings open to reveal Kaede and Shuuichi peering at him,with Kiibo at the back.

“Are you okay?”She asks him.

“Yeah.”Ouma lets out a weak chuckle in reply,blinking at the onslaught of bright light.

_My head hurts._He thinks.

“I’m just sleepy.”

“Hello!”Kiibo introduces.”I’m K1-B0,the Ultimate Robot!Sorry for not noticing if you were in there!”

Ouma gazes back at those LED eyes innocently,and asks a question he had never gotten an answer to.

“Hey,do robot’s have dicks?”

Kiibo’s synthetic skin turns blush red and Saihara drags his hat over his eyes and splutters awkwardly.

“You can’t just ask someone that.”Kaede chides him,even if he can see the barest hint of a smile drag at her lips.”And also,you haven”t introduced yourself yet.”

“Nishishi.”Ouma says,waving off Saihara’s outstretched hand as he makes his way(no,trips) out of the locker.”I’m Ouma Kokichi,the Ultimate Supreme Leader!”

Ouma stops in front of Kaede this time,despite all his instincts telling him to cling to his Saihara chan.

Violet eyes meet lilac ones,and Ouma smiles and conveys a secret message that only Kaede Akamatsu can see.

_Let’s work together._He tells her with silence.

_Why?For what?_She’s puzzled.

_For the game that will start soon._He answers._Let’s see if I can win this time._

Ouma thinks that he’ll try something new every time he wakes up,so why doesn’t he try working with another someone who would have the same goal as him.

She was a good pawn to the mastermind,so why wouldn’t she be one to him?

The game starts and Kaede tells them all to work together and Ouma can think of a thousand reasons why she wouldn’t work as one of his chesspieces.

“Ouma kun.”Kaede calls as he turns to leave.”What are you doing?”

_Contemplating my choices._He thinks and says.”Oh nothing.A supreme leader like me just has a lottttt of affairs to attend to,you know?”

She lets him leave,and Ouma chases after Momota”s tall,eggplant haired form instead as he leaves for the dorms.

_Maybe his first partner would be of some help instead.After all,the mindless listeners obeyed orders the best._

_Right?_

_“_Hey,Momo chan!Wait up!”

Momota turns with a confused look on his face,which then turns to a bright grin as he sees Ouma.”Kokichi!”He beams with way too much enthusiasm.”Nice to see you,man!”

_Momo chan”s an idiot._He thinks to himself as he grabs the astronauts sleeve and drags him away._But a hopeful idiot who’s goal aligns with mine._

“Hey!What are you doing!”They ask as they”re pulled along roughly to Ouma”s room.(Or at least the room with a sign tag with Ouma’s pixelated figure on it.)

“I know who the mastermind is.”

Momota falls silent and his mouth gapes like a goldfish(a brainless creature,huh?Suits Momo chan)as he tells them all he knows about the killing game and Shirogane’s crimes.

“Tsumugi?!”They exclaim in disbelief when he’s done.”Are you sure you didn”t make a mistake,man?She’s….really not the type to….”

They trail off,and Ouma stares at them and thinks that maybe somewhere in their tiny brain,they know that he’s right and they should just listen,_listen,listen_ to him.

“........So..what are we going to do about her then?”Momota finally says when he regains his senses.

“.....”

“I don’t know.”Ouma admits,and he hates those three words because it means that he’s helpless and there’s nothing he can do anymore.

(Maybe he should just tell Momota to kill him again)

(But that would be useless,wouldn’t it?)

Momota sits on his bed,a big idiotic lump and gazes expectantly at Ouma as if he’s _expecting _him to think of a plan.

_He can’t think of another one right now.He doesn’t want to._

The night time announcement sounds and he shoos them out without another word.

“H..hey!You aren’t gonna do anything about it?”

“I suppose not.It’s just a warning to be careful of her you know.” He gives a careless shrug in reply and slams the door in Momota bemused face.

_(_That night,Ouma dreamt of Monokumas and whips and gunfire and blood slathering over podiums and his classmates mutilated bodies.)

“Upupupupupu!A dead body has been discovered!Everyone meet up at the cafeteria for an investigation!”

Ouma wakes to the sound of a Body Discovery announcement instead of a Morning announcement,and he knew how wrong he had been to ever believe that it was a good idea to trust in Momo chan.

_He should probably have gone to Akamatsu chan in the first place._

When he strides into the cafeteria,a relaxed, smiling mask in place,the first thing he sees is blood,_blood,blood._And then there’s Shirogane’s-the mastermind’s- corpse slung over a table,her glasses shattered on the floor and her chest beaten in by the bloodied chair leg that lay on her left side like a cruel,sadistic companion.

Ouma’s mask falters,and he runs to the nearest trash bin and throws up.

_He had never thought that Momo chan would have been capable of something so truly disgusting._

Behind his back,a pianist’s pink violet eyes watch him with worry and relief.

(Relief that she wasn’t the murderer,not this time.)

(Not that she would be relieved for much longer)


	5. Chapter 5

The trial starts again,all too soon,and Ouma leans against his podium with a blank smile as accusations are thrown at him this time.He doesn”t try to refute or prove his innocence or….

_This is boring….._He thinks._And frustratingly dumb._

“Ouma kun!I believe that you”re the murderer!”Kaede shouts and points a finger at him,and all his classmates(except Saihara and Momota,who are just silent) agree with her with a chorus of approving comments.

“A typical degenerate male!”Tenko sneers.

“Gonta…..doesn”t want to believe Kokichi did it,but….”

“Atua says Kokichi’s the culprit!”Angie sways from side to side.

_I’m sorry._Kaede”s eyes tell him._But you’re the culprit aren”t you,Ouma kun?You were trying to make me the accomplice to your murder……_

_No,i’m not._He meets her regretful stare with a resigned one._I’m a liar...not a murderer,Akamatsu chan._

“Ouma kun..just give up..We know you’re the culprit…”She speaks aloud with a sigh. “You killed Shirogane san-”

“Akamatsu san….”Saihara cuts in,his cap casting his eyes in shadow. “Ouma kun”s not the culprit.”

“Bitch,what?!”Iruma screeches from across the trial room. “Shittyhara,why did you wait so long to speak up?”

“Shut up,Slut chan.”Ouma manages,mentally thanking Saihara chan for telling his truth(He doesn”t want them all to get executed because of him). “Saihara chan”s right,I didn”t kill Shirogane chan.And that”s not a lie.”

“Oh,and NOW you’re speaking up,you fucking gremlin,do you-”

Kiibo shushes her. “Please continue explaining,Saihara kun.”

The attention’s on Saihara now,and he takes a deep breath before continuing,keeping his amber eyes fixed on the carpeted ground.

“Ouma kun..”He begins.”Can’t be the culprit,because he simply isn”t strong enough to kill Shirogane chan.”

_That’s not fully true,Saihara chan._Ouma chuckles darkly to himself before adding to Saihara’s argument. “Yup!That’s true!A Supreme leader like me usually depends on my subordinates to defend myself!”

The detective casts him a suspicious glance,but continues, “To be able to snap the table leg off a chair and beat Shirogane san to death with it, one would need to have a certain amount of strength...and...I believe that Ouma kun is not capable of that…”

There’s silence,and Kaede hesitantly voices out a question. “Saihara kun….are you sure?”

Saihara pauses,and he looks anywhere except Momota and Ouma.(Ouma very well understands why) “I….yes.”

“Well then.”Hoshi nods from his podium.”Who would you accuse as the culprit,Saihara kun?”

  
  


“......”

“I’m……Momota kun…”

“Me?Shuuchi,are you serious!?”Momota defends himself in shock,but Ouma can see clearly that,no,his heart wasn't in it. “Man,I thought you were my sidekick!”

“...I...I..I’m sorry,Momota kun…”The black haired boy stutters out. “It’s just that….you’re very suspicious in this and….and….you’ve been quiet ever since the murder happened it’s..abnormal….”

“I’ve noticed you’ve haven’t said much too,Saihara kun.”Shinguuji observes.”Are you sure you aren’t just trying to protect Ouma kun?”

“Are you implying that my beloved Saihara chan’s lying for my sake?”Ouma cuts in with a mocking smirk. “ That’s sooooo romantic!”

“Kukuku.Its just a possibility,Ouma kun.After all,human emotions work in very…..interesting ways.”

“Saihara kun.”Amami interrupts. “Why exactly would you suspect Momota kun?”

The detective places a hand to his chin in thought.”Well….I think that it would either be Momota kun,or Gonta kun,but-”

“Gonta is gentleman!Gonta no murderer!”

“......But Gonta has a alibi.”

“Atua can attest to that!”Angie ‘nyahahaha’s’.

“.....Momota kun has the strength needed to commit Shirogane’s murder and he’s one of us without a solid alibi.”

“.....”

“Saihara kun..”Kaede realises,and both Momota and Saihara flinch. “The reason why you didn”t say much in this trial at first..was because you had already guessed that Momota kun was the murderer didn”t you?”

_Of course you’d say that,Kaede chan.Its what Saihara chan did at your trial in the first loop.........not that you’re supposed to know that._

“Akamatsu san…..”Saihara trails off,but the devastated look on his face told them everything.”

“I’m not gonna deny it anymore.”Momota says suddenly as Kaede opens her mouth to speak further.”Good work,Shuuchi.”He gave a thumbs up. “You figured it out.I,Kaito Momota,Luminary of the Stars,murdered Tsumugi Shirogane!”

“.......”

“This was such a waste of MP….”Himiko yawned. “You couldn’t have just told us sooner….?”

“Tenko did say the culprit had to be a disgusting boy.”

“Gonta…..no understand….Why Kaito kill Tsumugi?”

  
  


Momota shrugs at the question,the sleeve of his jacket flapping like the wing of a bird,and he directs his next statement to Monokuma. “Because she’s the mastermind.”

The room explodes into chaos.

_This is wrong this is not working everything’s wrong._Ouma’s mind screams as Kaede sobs and Gonta howls in shock and Tenko tries to keep Yumeno calm as the magician wails,”That can”t be true.”

_Its not going to end well, we’re all…we’re_

The trial room glitches,and his vision starts to shut down.As if through water,he dimly hears Amami and Saihara shouting to regain the order,and Momota’s voice declaring the words ‘Ouma’,’Reality show” and ‘Audience’.There’s a loud screech from one of the Monokubs(which one,he couldn”t tell),and then..

“Shut up,all you fucking brats!Let’s just scrap this game and start over!Such a godamn waste of time and money!”

There”s a deafening explosion,and the Exisals burst into the trial room with their machine guns at the ready.

Iruma screams in terror,and Ouma feels the sticky sensation of blood splatter across his skin.

_(_He doesn’t wonder what went wrong this time)

_It’s kind of obvious,wasn”t it?He confided in someone,and that was exactly what he had swore to never do._

_(Maybe it was the constant time loop messing up his brain)_

_(He would never have made such a amateur mistake in the first game)_

When Ouma comes to again,he’s kneeling in a corner,his white uniform stained pink with his classmates’ blood.The taste of iron is on his lips and he has no doubt that its from Hoshi’s battered,torn body,thrown against the wall next to him.

The sound of gunfire rings in his ears,and Monokuma”s merciless ‘upupupu’ continues like

background music as the two toned bear lounges on his throne,surveying the bloodshed.

_Monokuma’s amused,like this is what he wants._

_Its all entertainment to him,to them,to everyone in the outside world._

Ouma struggles to stand,and his head spins as he takes in Gonta, standing in front of Himiko and a lifeless Tenko,his suit and flesh peppered with bullet holes as he acts as a human shield.He takes in Kaede,holding Saihara as pink streamed down the side of her face; Maki,engaged in a deadly dance with a Exisal,her blade flashing as she avoided its attacks by a hair breadth ;Iruma,clutching at Kiibo’s shoulders hopelessly as the robot defended the inventor,and Toujou and Shinguuji’s broken forms,lying in a neon puddle a few feet away from the elevator.

“Kokichi!”And then there”s Momota,sprinting towards Ouma like the _fool _he is,his coat missing.”I’m-”

There’s a loud snapping sound,and c

violet eyes can only watch as the astronaut’s remains splash over Amami’s corpse,soaking the dead boy with more gore.

From the other side of the room,there’s another bout of gun fire,and Maki crumples soundlessly to the ground,not seconds after Momota”s demise.

The Exisal she had been battling steps over her body,crushing her arm with a ‘crunch’,its legs clicking as it turns and….turns its attention to Ouma.

He closes his eyes in preparation of what would happen next.

_Really,he just hopes it’ll end soon._

“Gonta kun!”Next to him,he hear Kaede”s pained cry as the rest of the Exisals turn their undivided attention to the survivors. “Look out-”

The pianist”s voice is cut of abruptly by what sounded like a rocket firing,and Ouma drops into blissful darkness as he’s blasted into oblivion.

_He had never been so glad for a loop to end._


	6. Chapter 6

Ouma Kokichi woke up in a locker,with the sensation of bullets peppering his flesh and the splatter of blood across the back of his eyelids.

_Momota. _He curses the astronaut’s name with what colerance he had._ I was such a fool to trust that dumb,impulsive moron with information, any information, especially information about the mastermind._

He’s propped against the back of the locker, his body trembling and heaving against cold metal as he fights the urge to throw up. The taste of iron was strong on his tongue, and it choked up his throat, making him gag.

There’s a clatter outside, and Ouma’s hands fly to cover his mouth, unwilling to make a sound before he was ready to greet whoever was outside. _Kiibo._ He thought.

The glimpse of a blue eye peeked in through the three slits, then blurred away again.

Ouma swallowed, taking a deep breath to calm himself,then plastered on a mischievous grin.He wasn’t planning to stay in that stifling box forever. He pushed himself upright and swung open the locker door, announcing,” Hey, Kii-”

He freezes, stopping mid-sentence, and stares.

A blonde haired girl in flashy pink clothes stares back, her blue eyes widened almost comically, before she recovered and quips, “I’m not Key, you asshole.I’m the fucking gorgeous girl genius Miu Iruma!” She laughs obnoxiously, before fixing a arrogant glare on him.

“Miu…” Ouma’s brain races with all the ways this was wrong, wrong,_wrong. _It was supposed to be Kiibo in the room with him, not Iruma.He had thought this was a time loop,and everything was supposed to repeat, right? So where did this turn go wrong?

“Hey, Dick Cheese, answer me, will ya?Or are you too taken back by my beautiful body?”

He shakes himself out of his stupor, and glares back at the girl with equal venom, a taunting smirk playing at his lips. “I'm taken aback by how much of a desperate disgusting pig you are,Iruma chan!” He almost singsongs, “ And that’s not a lie!With that ugly mug,I think that you need plastic surgery to look barely decent!”

"H...Hah?!” Iruma squeals, wheeling backwards as her face reddens with her blush. “W...wha-”

Ignoring her stammering,Ouma shoves the drooling girl out of the way roughly and storms out, banging the door behind him.There’s another screech from the inventor as the swinging door almost hits her.

The hallway was deserted, and a just a moment after he leaves the room, Monokuma’s announcement rings out.

_So that hasn’t changed._ He shoved his hand in his pockets._ Out of all the things.._Somewhere deep in the recesses of his mind, he wondered why this seemingly minor change would affect him so much.

_Maybe because it was a foreshadowing.Whenever things change in the killing game, someone’s bound to die._

“Hey!Wait up, you fucker!” Iruma ran out behind him. “You can’t just-”

“Shut up, pig chan.” He told her, and ran off. Iruma called to him, her tone incredulous, but he was too busy contemplating all the (scarce) choices he had in this round.

He was stuck in these loops,and he still had to beat the mastermind(At least that was what he thought he had to do in order to get out.). If he wanted to do that, he had to change his tactics. He couldn’t trust anyone, not his Saihara chan, not Amami chan, not Momo chan.

_I had been so close to winning in the first game,the mastermind was threatened by what I did. If I do what I did that time….with what I know now, then checkmate._

He shoulders open the gym doors, and is met with the sight of the rest of his ‘classmates’. Saihara glances at him from under his cap as he enters, and Angie, who flitted around him like a bright yellow butterfly, asked him a question in her cheerful manner.Maki and Kaede straight out ignored him, way too engrossed in their own conversation.A shiver ran through him,the feeling of cold water trickling down his spine spreading as he feels someone’s gaze pierce through him from.behind.He tenses,and then whips around to meet Shinguuji’s calm golden gaze.

The anthropologist surveys him,the slight quirk of their lips barely undetectable under their mask as they tilt their head.Ouma copies the motion,forcing himself to beam back at the long haired male.

_He’s trying to read me like a book._ He realises ._Not that his efforts will be anything but wasted._

Iruma interrupts by trotting in on his heels, huffing as she mutters an insult under her breath. “Fucking abortion.” She grumbles.

Kiibo,who had been coming over to them with interest on his features,looked scandalized by her words.

Ouma ignored both of them.

_I”ll play my part again._He thought as he turned back and gazed at the front of the gym,waiting. _I’ll act out a repeat of the first loop.Let’s see what Shirogane makes of that,nishishi._

From the corner,Shinguuji’s unmoving stare sharpens with curiosity.

Soon enough,Monokuma appears,the announcement starts,and panic spreads.Ouma takes charge,spreading his arms wide and repeating his proclamations about the joy of killing games,the fun found in bloody murder word for word.His maniacal smirk shone on his face,hiding his urge to break down and hide himself as his classmates stared at him,disgusted expressions on their faces.

His vision seemed to glitch and blur even as he spoke,and he would swear that the two toned bear behind him was grinning sadistically at his back.

(Ouma felt sick to his stomach)


	7. Chapter 7

Things went on smoothly enough afterwards,if you could call motives and murder 'going on smoothly.

History repeated itself,and Ouma watched from the sidelines.He watched blood splatter across Amami chan's head,a rope string Akamatsu chan up as she was dragged across a gigantic piano,watched Hoshi get torn apart in a storm of pink and Kirumi fall like an angel from grace. He watched his Saihara chan suffer through the trials and betrayals,watched him break and piece himself together like he had the first time.

He didn't interfere,didn't change events as he had done so in the last 3...4? loops.He just acted out his personal role,as he had done in the first game.A puppet to his own whims,dancing on to his prewritten tune.

_Maybe,_ He mused at the blank,blank whiteboard in his room,_ I'm not supposed to do anything!Maybe...this is eternal punishment,being stuck here in these loops.Maybe i'm just that shitty of a person that they're making me watch this like one of those assholes out there,just with a front row seat!I should be honoured! _At that thought,he giggled out loud,his 'nishishis' sounding painfully loud in the locked room.

His vision blurred again,and something moist made its way onto his lashes.

And not for the first time,Ouma wondered if he was going to go mad.

The second trial passed on,and the third motive was given.Ouma waited for Shinguuji to make his move,like he had done before(abeit to different people).

  
_Shinguuji kun's cruelty was a surety,and strangely,Ouma no longer felt sorry for whichever two girls were his victims._

Each morning,he waited for a Body discovery announcement.Every night,he expected to find Angie,or Tenko's dead body lying on wooden planks,a pool of blood surrounding their still forms.He steeled himself to it,expecting a morning to come when his Saihara chan would come knocking on his door and greet him politely.A politeness which would soon turn sour as the deaths,and investigation went on.

Four days passed,and Shinguuji disappointed him at every turn.No dead girls turned up,and no abnormal requests were made by him(at least none that Ouma knew of).Aside from the morbid sense of fascination the masked boy watched him with everytime they saw each other,Shinguuji showed no sign of wanting to attempt murder.

_Not that he did show any signs of that in the first place,nishishi!_

(Ouma wondered if he must be missing something significant about this all)

"Ouma kun." 

Shinguuji cornered Ouma after breakfast on the fifth day,his expression shut out by his mask.

"May i speak to you?"

Ouma plastered on a bright grin and spun to face him. "Of course,Shin chan!Unless you wanna ask for a sexual favor!If it is,you should go find Pig chan instead,she would be tooootally fine with helping you out,nishishi!"

The other may have looked annoyed-not that Ouma could tell,but really,since when did he care what Shitgoojeez thought of him.

(He just hoped his tastes hadn"t turned to murdering males.)

"Hmm...!" He ventured furthur. "Or maybe you don't wanna fuck Pig chan!I wouldn't blame you,since big busted bimbos aren't my type either!"

"..." 

"Ouma kun,are you quite done yet?"

"Nope!"

Shinguuji stared at him balefully.

"Fine!"He heaved a long suffering sigh. "So what do you want,Shin chan?"

Luckily for his nerves,Shinguuji didn"t pull out a katana and run him through(not that he thought they would do that),nor demand he be an accomplice to their complicated double murder(not that he would've agreed to that.)

But what he proposed was almost worse than that.

"Ouma kun." They started in a low voice. "I would like to aid you in finding the mastermind."

Ouma's disguise fell away in a wave of shock and he opened his mouth to protest,because how how _how __on earth_ did Shinguuji know about that?,Yes,he knew that the anthropologist was intelligent,nearly as good at planning and plotting as Ouma himself,but his facade had fooled them before,so why didn't it now?

"A body has been discovered!Please report to the Ultimate Inventor's lab for investigation!" Monokuma's cackling laugh rang out,and Ouma broke off at a run,Shinguuji following steadily at his heels.

Gonta's crumpled body lay in the glass calmly,his suit unmarked,glasses askew,as peaceful in death as he was in life.Ouma's mind went blank to the soundtrack of Iruma's wailing hysterics. _Gonta was dead,Gonta who was obviously,obviously male.But who would want to kill him? _His mind twinged with leftover guilt,memories of a charred form in the midst of a roaring firestorm. _Not Shinguuji,who only kills females,right..?_

Out of the corner of his eye,he caught the faint sheen of shock in golden yellow eyes.

(Maybe Ouma could trust Shinguuji Korekiyo.At least for now.)

The trial begin,and for once,Ouma found himself with a reliable alibi.Saihara chan's suspicions skimmed past him,,and Shinguuji too,turning to rest on Himiko,Tenko and Iruma.

_In the end,the culprit was none of the three_

Angie,who shone like sunshine,had been the one to choke the life out of Gonta with her toxic colours.Gonta had refused to help her with her student council-_cult's-_ plans,and in return,Angie spun candy sweet woven webs around him,luring him in with promises of an apology and turning on him.

And Ouma didn't spare a thought for her,even as the Ultimate Artist burned and scorched under a sea of boiling wax,even as Tenko and Himiko wept for a girl who,despite all her faults,they had considered a friend.

_She deserved this._ He thought savagely as a yellow coat flamed into congealling black. _She's paying her dues.Not even the most benevolent of gods would save their 'chosen servant' from the crime of murder._

That night,he wondered,whether he was mad at Angie or himself.After all,they were liars from the same pod.

_Maybe. _He mused_. This was his 'execution'.He was paying his dues,like Angie.His hands were tainted by blood,and this was his punishment,handed down from a higher force._

(But Ouma didn't believe in a god,he wasn't about to start now,for the sake of a girl who screamed for her savior unto her death.)

Ouma closed his eyes to the empty screaming silence -_ "Its your fault,your own fault,your own lies-" _and plunged into a shattered mosiac of butterfly wings.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning,Shinguuji sought him out again,in a room which didn't(probably?)have a seesaw trick lying in its floorboards.His eyes were inquisitive as he looked at Ouma for the answer to his question.  
  
_Why not? _He held out a hand to the smaller boy.  
  
Ouma slid on another mask,an agreeable one,then slapped their hands together with a loud chuckle. _Why not?!_ He echoed.  
  
"I'm so happy to work with you,Shin chan!"  
  
Their eyes met,and Shinguuji's hands no longer felt clammy and stiff in his own.  
  
(Around them,the world blurred out of focus.)  
  
Their alliance didn't go unnoticed by the others.  
  
"Hey,Pooichi!" Iruma cackled when Shinguuji slid into the seat next to Ouma's at breakfast. "Did ya fucking notice that the gremlin and Shitgoojeez seem awfully close?Do you think they're taking turns sucking each other's dicks or something?"  
  
Ouma opened his mouth to snap back a nasty retort,but the anthropologist beat him to it.  
  
"Please kindly refrain from making such comments,Iruma san,or you may very well find your nerves missing from your body."Wha-" Iruma shrank back with a sharp squeal,cheeks paling.

"Dude,that's not cool." Kaito frowned,thumping the table with a fist. "I don't really like-" Iruma whimpered. "Iruma,but you can't just fucking go around threatening people."

  
"The same threat applies to you if you interfere with my matters,Momota kun."  
  


"....Do you want to die?"  
  


"Jeez,will all of you shut up!" Ouma complained. "Especially Momo chan and 'Makiroll',your voices are giving me rash!"  
  


He blocked out Momota's reaction and Maki's repeated threat,ignoring the other students to grin and stuff a jammy piece of bread at Shinguuji's mask.  
  


_Ignore them.They're useless,useless pawns.Doesn't matter if they suspect you!They all do everytime anyway!_  
  
All the same,he felt Saihara chan's curious gaze bore into his side.

(Saihara chan isn’t a pawn….?)  
  


The fourth motive is given,and Ouma skips off in search of Saihara,leaving his ally behind.He chats idly with the detective,throwing out half hearted threats and slashing a knife into his fourth finger.It bleeds,blood running down into a twisted resemblance of a ring,and Saihara runs off to find him bandages,his brows furrowed with worry.  
  
Ouma laughs as the other tells him to be careful,and he looks up,with wide eyes that are genuine as he dares to stray from his script.  
  
"You'll live until the end,my beloved Saihara chan!As the Ultimate Supreme Leader,i'll make sure of that!"  
  
Before Saihara leaves,he turns back and gives Ouma a slight smile. "I don't think that you're as bad as you make yourself out to be,Ouma kun."  
  
Ouma lets out a 'nishishi' and takes their comment to heart.  
  
Later,when he steps into the Ultimate Anthropologist lab,a grin stretching across his features,Shinguuiji isn't surprised.  
  
"Humanity is beautiful." They say.  
  
For once,Ouma could be inclined to agree.  
  
_Humanity is beautiful_.The words scorn him as his avatar darts out of the way in the thick snow.  
  
There's a thud,and Saihara's avatar drops into the snow next to him,his dull gold gaze still and unmoving.  
  
Ouma stumbles backwards,and darts away,leaving two figures with matching eyes and hair behind.  
  
_Its cruel._He thinks,as he sits up in his pod,to a alive,alive inventor,and the dead bodies of Saihara chan and....Himiko?  
  
__But I wish Saihara chan was alive instead of Shinguuji.__  
  
As Tenko wails in the background,he spurns the urge to do the same.  
  
  
Golden yellow eyes burn in sympathy,and he imagines that they were Saihara's instead of....  
  
(He desperately hopes that this time loop wasn't the end.)  
  
Ouma fights like a enraged demon.He spits out lie after lie,taunting and insulting,until Tenko stops crying and Iruma's propped on her podium,screeching in distress.  
  
_Serves her right_.He thought spitefully. _That nasty murdering whore._  
  
He watches with vengeful (almost)glee as the blonde girl is dragged off,kicking and screaming.  
  
And he definitely didn't laugh when she's plunged into molten iron that melts her pale flesh and bones.  
  
The others look sickened.  
  
Ouma didn't really give a shit.

  
_The world is Kokichi Ouma's_. He carves the lie on stone in the middle of the night.For the second time,he's gotten this far,and with predestined warnings,he'll go even further.  
  
(He wanted to see the mastermind burn with his own eyes.)  
  
Ouma prepares himself,as he pilots the Exisals into the dining hall to support his claim as the mastermind.He congratulates them,and there's hatred in the true ringleader's eyes as she watches and he grabs Momota with one of the Exisals' arms.  
  
Maki tries to attack,and Tenko pulls her back.  
  
Almost as a second thought,Ouma grabs Shinguuji too,before vanishing on his merry way.  
  
(There were antidotes in the hanger,and that gold katana from the anthropologist lab.Ouma wondered if it was enough.)  
  
"Hey,Shin chan.Why didn't you murder anyone for your sis?"  
  
Ouma tilts his head curiously as he and Shinguuji sit on the steps leading to the control panel.Momota's in the bathroom,coughing his lungs out,and Ouma had time to burn.  
  
"Why would I?" Shinguuji replies.  
  
"I dunno!Don"t you have special obligations or some shit?"  
  
"....." They look puzzled. "What do you mean by that."  
  
Ouma sighs. "Jeez.You're dumb aren"t you,Shin chan?Take off your mask."  
  
"....." Hesitantly,the long haired male follows the order.  
  
_Huh?_ Ouma scans their face,confused.Their lips were dry,and cracked,and a pale,natural pink.  
  
_Pink. _Not a ghastly,painted red.  
  
"I do not understand what you are going on about,Ouma kun."  
  
"I do not have a sister."  
  
_What.The.Actual.Fuck._  
  


There's a bang,and Ouma doesn't have time to dwell on that any more.Momota runs out of the bathroom,blood staining the corner of his shirt as Maki barges in,crossbow in hand.  
  
Ouma flew to his feet,his mind flashing with the sensation of spine racking agony and rough hands dragging him across a cold metal floor.  
  
Maki lets the arrow twang from her bow and he braces himself-  
  
"Harumaki!No!"  
  
Ouma's shoved out of the way,and there's a pained gasp as the arrow sunk into the Ultimate astronaut's stomach.  
  
Maki's weapon clattered to the floor,and Ouma clambered up from his knees just in time to see Momota gurgle and collapse.  
  
_That idiot_. Ouma cursed. _That absolute fucking moron.He ruined all my plans.Again._  
  
Soundlessly,Shinguuji comes up behind him and slips the bottle of antidote into his hand.  
  


"Die." Maki spits venom as Ouma tips the medicine into Momota's mouth.The air stunk of cologne,hair gel and blood,blood_,blood_ as they sat back and watched the tall boy's form heave on the floor.  
  
"This is all your fault." Maki's fists clenched. "You're the mastermind."  
  
Ouma laughed bitterly.  
  
_How could the Ultimate assassin be such a naive fuck?_  
  
"He's...not.Makiroll." Momota wheezed,a dying savior for Ouma's innocence. _Innocence?Since when did I have that?_ "Masterminds." He coughed,pink dribbling from the corner of his mouth. "He mourned for Shuuichi."  
  
Their purple eyes reflected Ouma's,strangely trusting,before they convulsed and hacked up a mixture of blood and antidote and glittering stardust.  
  
_Still your fault._ Maki's scarlet glare accused as they stared at the dead boy,lying in the remains of his rotten organs.  
  
"I'll kill you." She promised as she stepped away.  
  
_No you won"t._ Ouma sang as he watched her leave.She wouldn't,he was sure of that,out of respect to the boy she loved.  
  
_Not like that matters anyway,nishishi!_ He thought. _Its not like 'Makiroll really killed Momo chan!He died from disease so that doesn't count as murder!_  
  
_Right_?  
  
Ouma watched with a strange sense of defeat as the Ultimate Assassin was brought stoically to her execution.

  
The next morning,he's woken by the noise of explosions and collapsing buildings.He lays there,and stares at the shaking statue of Amami.  
  
_'The beginning of the end.'_The statue wax lips curve into a smile.  
  
He heads outside,and is taken aback by the sheer amount of rubble.Blue lasers shot through the sky,taking the school down around him.Kiibo was at their source,the robot finally,finally living up to his Ultimate status.  
  
"You're going to break this place apart,menace!" Tenko calls up,Shirogane at her side.To the mastermind's credit,she looked suitably worried.  
  
Although he was pretty sure it wasn't for the same reason as the others.  
  
"Kiibo kun seems different." Shinguuji observes."Those are the upgrades from his lab,correct?"

  
"Hmm!" Ouma replies. "Probably!"  
  
The robot lands,and Ouma steps forward.  
  
"Kiiboy!" He proposes,not only to the robot but to all of them. "Since you're no longer such a useless hunk of metal with brainless insides to match.I'm taking you on as my underling in Project Out the Mastermind!"

_Its a horrible name_.Ouma knows. _Not at all subtle.But really,he didn’t mean it to be subtle in the first place!_  
  
He grins,and Tenko accuses him. "Stop messing around,degenerate,i'll flip you!"  
  
"That's not a lie!" He assures.  
  
Kiibo meets his eyes with their electric ones,and Ouma tells him how much he's gone through to get to this final stage.  
  
They nods,and Tenko 'hmphs' reluctantly.  
  
"That's totally awesome!I call dibs on Tenko chan!"  
  
He drags the girl off before she can hit him,leaving Shinguuji with the mastermind.  
  
She couldn't take the opportunity to murder him,Ouma knew.Not without displeasing the audience.  
  
_And keeping the audience happy was Shirogane's most fervent wish._  
  
"Why did you make Tenko come with you,you nasty boy?" Tenko huffed as Ouma worked on the vault in Rantaro's lab.  
  
"I don't trust Shiro chan!" He shrugged.  
  
"Tenko doesn"t trust Shinguuji kun." She counters.  
  
Ouma laughs humorlessly. "You will when we're done,Ten chan.!"  
  
Tenko bit her lip,and insulted him again.There was less bite in her words.  
  
_She's so much easier to convince after Himiko's death._  
  
(Ouma sympathizes with her.)  
  


Tenko does believe him,after she sees all the plain,simple evidence he's put in front of her.She doesn't trust him,but its enough to convince Kiibo too,and Shinguuji's been in the plan since Day 1.  
  
"Shiro chan's the mastermind!" Ouma declares in the first 5 minutes of the trial.His classmates support his claim.  
  
"What..wha.." Shirogane stutters. "But i'm not.."  
  
"I'm just plain old me....i can't be.."  
  
Monukuma twitches in anger,and the Monokubs explode one after another as they force the mastermind out with carefully laid evidence.  
  
"Before Amami kun's death,you left the dining hall and was gone for nearly half an hour." Shinguuji confirms.  
  
"Tenko thinks there could be a secret door in the storage cabinet!" Tenko insists.  
  
"I don't want to believe it,but all the evidence points to you,Shirogane san." Kiibo points out.  
  
"Akamatsu chan's innocent!" Ouma calls.  
  


_Kaede's innocent.Does that make you happy,Saihara chan?_

  
Saihara doesn't reply,Tsumugi does.She disappears in mist and turns her hair blonde and her eyes a icy blue.  
  
"Junko Enoshima the 53rd!" She cackles as she lays the truth of Ouma's spectaculations before them.  
  
He's right,there was an audience,and they were twisted,sick bastard themselves,auditioning for a sick twisted game.

  
"Tenko...Tenko can't believe it!" The dark haired girl sobs as she faces Himiko's audition video. "Himiko san isn't like that!"  
  
Ouma feels disgusted too,when Saihara drools and giggles his way into a killing game like the rabid fan he had been.  
  
_This wasn't the boy he fell for._  
  
"You see?This is what the outside world is!Doesn't that just fillll you with Despair?" Enoshima-Tsumugi trilled,satisfaction oozing like blood from their pores.  
  
Ouma narrows his eyes,and he snaps.  
  
"You've got that wrong!" He accuses,stepping into the shoes of his precious detective.(Who isn’t,_isn’t_ a fucking nutjob who wrote his own execution.)  
  
Tsumugi changes form,and stutters her 'evidence' to him.She changes form again,and bellows that he's a weak,scared crybaby.  
  
"I gave you what you wanted!" She wails in the form of a blue haired idol. "Is this how you repay me?"  
  


_Yes,it is._ Ouma refuted her pathetic arguments with precise bullets that pinned her shape shifting identities in the heart.He called her out,taunted her in the way she had created him to do so.He tore her down with his _li__eslieslieslies t_ruth and left her with nothing but Tsumugi Shirogane.  
  


"Winning isn't the only way to stop a game!" He declares. "We can refuse to play it."  
  


"You'll all die!" Tsumugi tries,but he steps away from his podium,meeting her gaze steadily.

_Good_.

  
"Tenko....Tenko just wants to see Himiko san again." Tenko stepped away next,dropping her hands to her side.  
  
"Kukuku." Shinguuji followed their examples,moving to stand with Tenko and Ouma.  
  
Around them,the trial room exploded,and Kiibo rose into the air like an avenging angel to deal out their punishment.

  
_Its over.I won_  
  
The world shifted around Ouma,the ground trembling beneath his feet as he clung to Shinguuji's arm.Rubble and rocks rained down around them as they struggled to dodge around the chaos.  
  
"What's Shirogane san doing?!" He heard Tenko's shocked cry through the din.  
  
_Shirogane?_ He lifted his head to see the ringleader at the entrance of her creation,a gleeful smirk on her face as she waved them off.  
  
His eyes met hers,a beam shot through the air,and the rock above her creaked.  
  
Shirogane's smile dropped,her gray gaze sharpening unnaturally.Dark amusement filled her eyes as the shadow above her darkened.  
  
_Its over_.  
  
Tsumugi Shirogane vanishes in a vivid spray of pink,and Ouma Kokichi's world goes dark.


	9. Chapter 9

_Hello?Its dark...is this the outside world?_

Ouma Kokichi wakes up in a locker,with Shirogane's gaze burning through his skin.

The metal wall's cold against his back and the sheer blackness of his surroundings press in like a hydraulic- 

_This isn't-Nonononono.It isn"t...over?_

The door slams open and he crashes out in a panic.

"Hello,it is nice to meet you!I am K1-"

Without hesitation,Ouma throws himself at the robot and jams his fingers into the third button-thats the exploding one right?-hard.

"H-Hey!What are you-!"

Lamplight eyes fill his vision,and the world explodes in white.

~~~

_Rinse.And repeat._

Ouma Kokichi wakes up in a locker.Kiibo waits for him outside.

He steps out.

"Hello,I'm-"

Ouma shrieks and beats him into pieces with a chair.

The door opens,a Monokub squeals,and Ouma's gone in a rainstorm of bullets.

~~~

_And again._

Darkness,the locker.Ouma's heavy breathing echoes in his ears.

"Hey,what the fuck's up here,gremlin!"

Iruma screams and thrashes like a pig when Ouma throttles her with her wire necklaces.

_'Bang!'._ Oh there's the monokubs.

Iruma drops like a sack of potatoes and Ouma's erased.

Then he's back.

_Darkness.Locker._

Tsumugi's ugly laughter rings in his ears.

He steps out,its Kiibo again.

He slams his hand into the self destruct button like he's a kid on his PS Vita.

The world explodes.

Its the locker for him_._

_"_Nyeh....such a pain."

Ouma steps out to see red,red,_red.Red is such a stupid fucking colour._He lunges at it,and smashes it in,until its just a limp splotch of empty-

_Oh hey,there's the Monokubs_.

He smiles when his body shatters like that water-and Ryoma-filled piranha tank.

~~~

_Nishishi._Ouma's laughter is grating when he wakes up in that damned locker again after a brief moment of respite.

_I bet Shirogane is getting a kick outta this._

His hands clench,and he prepares to murder whoever the fuck is outside that door.He's not playing this game anymore.

Nope,nope,nope,he's not.Shirogane and her audience can go screw themselves.This'll be his big 'fuck you' to the outside world.

He steps out.

The soft yellow light illuminating the classroom belies the calmness of the atmosphere.A calmness that would lead him into a false sense of security until he saw whoever was in the room with him.

Speaking of..._Huh,wait?Where's the poor dude i'm gonna off this time?_

Another locker stands next to the one he came out of,and there are soft bangs on the inside of it.

_Oh my god,they're stuck._

Despite himself,Ouma laughs at the sheer dumbness of the situation.

Then the locker slams open,and the person inside topples out in front of him.

_Oh-Hello,Saihara chan_

"Sorry about that." Saihara mumbles as he clambers to his feet.His gold eyes flick to meet Ouma's as he tugs on his hat. "Um.Where are we?"

_"._..."Ouma stares.He can practically see how easy it would be to strangle to other boy.They're unsuspecting after all,and they're not much stronger than Ouma,right?

The detective waits for his answers,and Ouma imagines how their skin would feel beneath his hands as he strangles them.

_But....But its Saihara chan!!!_

Ouma's struck by the memory of Saihara's body lying lifeless on soft snow,and gentle eyes staring blankly at him.

His murder plan flies out the window.

_He couldn't ever bear to kill his Saihara chan._

"Nishishi!" Ouma hears himself tease the detective. "Aren't you a rude one!You're supposed to ask who I am first,aren't you?Meanieeeee!"

"....Sorry." Saihara blushes. "So um..who are you?"

"Glad you asked!I'm Kokichi Ouma,Ultimate Supreme Leader of Evil!"

"...Nice to meet you,Ouma kun.I'm Saihara Shuuichi,the Ultimate Detective."

"Saihara channn!" Ouma cheers,and clings to Saihara's arm as the other lowers their cap even more.The detective's skin is warm,even through their uniform,and Ouma clutches it like its a lifeline anchoring him to this reality.

_He prays and prays to whatever deity,even if its godamn Angie's Atua, that Saihara chan will live._

(He's probably a hypocrite to God's eyes.)

The killing game starts,and Ouma doesn't make his big 'killing is NOT boring' speech.He sticks to Saihara,like Saihara had adhered himself to Akamatsu in other timelines.His classmates grumble about that and he sticks his tongue out at them.

_Saihara chan's mine,mine,mine!_

Iruma calls him a cock sucking fucker,and Ouma ignores her jab,because its kinda true anyway.He does love Saihara chan,because Saihara's interesting and kind and worthy of his love from the beginning to the end.

_(Saihara chan's not a murder loving fanatic!._He has to remind himself sternly.)

"Hey,Ouma kun.What do you think about the time limit motive?"

Ouma shrugs at the question. "Its a pretty dumb move!I don't think anyone will wanna murder over it,so don"t worry your pretty little head,Saihara chan!"

All the same,he steers the detective clear of the library during the last few hours of the motive.He doesn't want history to repeat itself,does he?

(And like before,it does repeat.They find Amami's corpse on the floor of the library,head smashed in by <s>Kaede</s>Shirogane's shotput ball.)

The motive's over,and Akamatsu's eyes shine with despair as she's dragged off for Amami's murder.

Horror perforated the room and Himiko and Tenko cry for their new friend.

Ouma watches as Saihara's cap is dragged even lower over his eyes.

(He almost wishes the detective wasn't the one to accuse Akamatsu)

(_Keyword:Almost)_

The next morning,Ouma screws the lock of Saihara's chan's door open with his tools.He skips in and spots the hat hanging on a hook on the wall.

"Good morning,my beloved Saihara chan!" He yells. "Wakey wakey,eggs and broccoli!"

Then he winks at Saihara and grabs his hat off the wall,racing away in the midst of the dark haired boy's protests.

_There._Ouma sets the cap on the pillow next to his.Now he'll have a part of Saihara chan in his room of treasures,for when the 4th trial will definitely,_definitely_ mess them all up.All he needs to complete his collection now is that wax statue of Rantaro and-he double checks- a whiteboard.

_A whiteboard._He puts that on his checklist as he skips off to breakfast.

"Hey Shuuichi!You're my new detective sidekick!" Ouma's met with the scene of Momota clapping a hatless Saihara chan on the back as he strolls into the dining room.

"Um.I don't-"

"Saihara chan's mine,Momo chan!" Ouma runs to knock Momota away from Saihara."As the Ultimate Supreme Leader,I claim him as my underling!"

He pulls a nightmare face."And whoever tries to steal him from me will be sentenced to death!"

"Eeek!" Miu,who had been sitting near Kaito shot away. "W..What is that fucking-"

"Shut up,you filthy slut."

"S...slutttt?!"

"Dude,what the fuck?" Momota scowls,pounding his fist on the table.(Really,its a wonder that that thing hadn't yet been dented.)

"Shuuichi isn't a thing to claim,Ouma!"

"Yeah,like you weren't just claiming my beloved Saihara chan as your sidekick,idiot chan."Ouma makes a face at the astronaut.

"That's different!"

"Nah its not."

"Is."

"Not."

"Is."

"Is!"

"Not."

Ouma chuckles." There,you said not!So its not!Joke's on you,momo chan!" He sticks his tongue out at the fuming astronaut.

"Ignore him." Ouma twisted to whisper to an uncomfortable looking Saihara." Momochan"s just annoyed that you look especially handsome today,Shumai."

Saihara flushed.

"Maybe its because of the lack of that emo hat." Ouma remarked.

(He cheered inwardly when Saihara gave up on finding his hat for the rest of the day.)

_There are small victories,but life goes on._

Saihara's hatless as they watch Ryoma's body tear apart in a mass of piranhas.He's hatless when he accepts Ouma's soundless help in pointing Kirumi out as the culprit.He's hatless when Angie and Tenko die and he has to condemn Shinguuji to his boiling pot.  
  
"Ehhhhh.You"re a kind of good detective you know,Saihara chan.And that's not a lie!"

Saihara thanks him,but there's resignation in his eyes when he reaches down to return Ouma's hug. 

_I don"t want to be a good detective if it means damning my friends. _Ouma hears the unspoken statement pass between them,carried through by the warmth of Saihara"s body.

_I"m sorry,Saihara chan_. Ouma thinks back with vigour.

His heart breaks as he thinks of Iruma's murder plot and Gonta"s naive naive trust in Ouma's plans.

"_Lets play the Gamebusters,Gonta chan!"_

_"Gonta no mind playing with Kokichi!But Gonta no understand what Gamebusters is.Gonta sorry."_

_"Nishishi!Don"t worry bout it!Its really easy!All you gotta do is follow my orders!"_

_"Gonta can do that!"_

Ouma buries his schemes in Saihara's shoulder with a loud elaborate sniff.  
If Saihara chan hears him sob,he doesn"t mention it.

_You're alone,Kokichi,and you always will be._

_He's alone._ Ouma thinks numbly as he stands on a virtual rooftop over a body.Its crumpled at his feet,like a servant would be in front of their king.

_But he's no king.And Iruma...Iruma's his fucking friend._

Gonta sobs under the doorway,dull eyes reflecting a fake apocalypse.His hands are free from chains of paper,and Ouma thinks about how useless he is as a leader.

(Leader's are meant to lead.Not to lie and manipulate.)

Ouma swallows as he watches Gonta burn at the stake for his sake.

_"Gonta want everyone to be friends!Gonta no blames Kokichi!"_

Again,Gonta's gone.

Again, its Ouma's fault.

Cynical laughter rises up from his throat,masking his tears,and Ouma uses it as his claim to the mastermind's throne.He sweeps his arms open in a mockery of the cape DICE draped over his shoulders,and he preaches about despair and betrayal and murder.He feels himself choking,because Saihara,Saihara,_Saihara _ looks so disappointed and he's so sure,he sure....

Momota rushes to punch him,and Ouma knocks the breath out of them instead.

The astronaut land on their knees,neon pink splattering Ouma"s shoes,and Ouma taunts him cruelly.

_He's cruel.That's right.Cruelty is all he knows._

He dares to glance at Saihara chan,and he see's them opening his mouth to say-

_"You're alone,Kokichi-"_

The words are left unsaid,and Saihara simply closes his mouth and shakes his head.There's something impossibly sad in his beautiful eyes.

Ouma turns on his heels and runs.

(In the mastermind's lair,he's sure that Shirogane's laughing at him.Laughing at his idiocy,laughing at his fate,laughinglaughing_laughing-)_

Ouma kneels on the floor of the Ultimate Entomologist lab,and he laughs and laughs and laughs until his voice turns to bitter poison that seeps from his lips like Momo chan's blood.

_This world is Kokichi Ouma's._He prays,scrabbling at the grass coating the floorboards.

<s>This world is Kokichi Ouma's</s>_._He doesn't believe as he curls up and sobs ,watching the butterflies in the containers burn,burn,_burn._

And that's how Saihara finds him.

The detective drops down next to him,and Ouma scrambles to put his masks back on.He tries to pout,but its comes out wrong as Saihara slips his arms around Ouma.

"I don't hate you,Ouma kun." He says as he holds the smaller boy. "Its not your fault."

Something breaks inside Ouma at his words, and he lets his tears soak Saihara's pinstriped sleeves.

(Saihara pets his hair hesitantly and cries silently with him.)

_I'm not alone._

The next morning,its with Saihara's help that Ouma sneaks back to his room,and its with Saihara's help that he puts the finishing touches of his plan in place.

'The world is Kokichi Ouma's.'Saihara discovers,even if he had been the one to help Ouma carve the letters in last night.

Momota flies into a rage,and Maki follows.Ouma smiles and gives his Saihara chan a silent thumbs up.

"Okay,Shumai.So here's what you have to do.Step 1:Get Momo chan and Makiroll to the end of that Death Road of Despair.Step 2.Help me wrangle Momo chan to the Exisal hanger!"

Saihara finishes Step 1,and Ouma watches on.He starts his part of Step 2,and Ouma pilots the Exisals into the dining room.

Tsumugi screams,and something goes wrong.Ouma ends with with Saihara chan in the hanger,a arrow in Ouma's back and another matching arrow pinning the detective's arm like a pincushion.

"We'll get you out of there,Shuuichi!" Momota yells through the window,anxiety colouring his voice."Here!" He tosses down the antidote,and Ouma grabs it.

He stares at the bottle,the ambrosia teasing him with relief from the burning agony running through his veins.

Saihara groans.

Ouma offers the bottle to him.

"You take it." He insists."You deserve to live."

And Ouma watches as Saihara tips the antidote into his mouth,his rotting insides wailing in protest.

_Saihara chan deserves to live._He convinces._Not me.Not me.Never me._

(Through his self righteous haze,he doesn't notice the way Saihara's hand shakes with effort as he lowers the antidote.)

"You deserve to live." Saihara echoes as he crushes his lips against Ouma's.He tastes of blood and desperation,and there's none of the taste of the heavenly nectar that would save their lives.

_Wait-_

In a split second,Saihara's mouth is gone from his,and plastic scrapes against his teeth as the taller boy pours their saving grace down Ouma's throat.

"Its okay,Ouma kun....I'm glad you'll live."

The antidote wrings the pain out of Ouma's system,and Saihara offers him a vacant smile.

_This was not okay.Not at all._

Ouma cries heartbrokenly as the hydraulic press smushes the Ultimate detective into a bloody starburst.

(He believes with all his heart that God IS a sham.)

(_His prayers were not answered_.)

The trial is announced and Ouma hops his way to the courtroom like a bird with broken wings.He settles next to Momota and Maki in the elevator,and Momota's encouraging smile falters as he takes in Ouma"s scraggled look,the mixture of his and Saihara chan's blood soaking his clothes.

_I'm so sorry._ His stricken eyes convey as they meet Ouma's violet ones.

_No you're not._

"Let him be." Maki snapped and brushes out,Momota trailing in her wake with one last look at the bedraggled boy.

_You're just glad you're Makiroll's still here._

Ouma lets out a loud,unsettling laugh,and Momota's eyes shine even brighter in sympathy.

_Foolish astronaut._

The trial starts,and Ouma cares naught for sympathy.Saihara chan's podium is right across from his,and he can feel their eyes in the monochrome photo slice into his vision,reminding him of the taste of blood and poison and Saihara._Saihara,Saihara._Ouma's breath catches,and he steps forward to confess his crime in gruesome detail.

_Once a liar,always a liar._

The other's don't believe him.They take Momota's word when he refutes Ouma,saying that Ouma can't be the one to kill Saihara chan,simply because "Fucking Ouma loves him,okay?".The astronaut slams their fist into his podium.It shudders,and they're convinced by his bravado.

Ouma's says that he's telling the truth for once,and none of them believe him.

_The boy who cried wolf._He thinks._That's who i am._

Momota votes for himself.Maki and Ouma vote for themselves,and the rest vote for Maki.

"You've got that wrong!" Monokuma 'puhuhu's as the screen shows the results.

"Nyehhhh?!"

Their precious hero's wrong,and Ouma's right.Its just the fact that no one trusts him enough.

_Aside from Saihara chan._His heart aches as the others stare in mixed levels of terror at Ouma's spirite on the panel.

He shrugs when they turn to look at him,and he gets in the elevator alone.

It plunges upwards to the screams of his classmates and the ring of gunfire,and Ouma knows its not the end.

_Because how could THIS be the end?_

Above him,the ceiling glitches,and he glimpses a block of pixels spelling out 'Team Danganronpa'.

_Team Danganronpa?_

Ouma Kokichi's world smashes in a shower of black ice.

(He finally understands.)


	10. Chapter 10

Ouma Kokichi wakes up in a locker,his head filled with a melancholic acceptance.

_He knows what he must do._

"Hello!I'm-"

"Hey,Kiibo!"He goes through the steps of greeting the surprised robot,poking fun at them with just the right amount of conviction.

"Ouma Kokichi,Ultimate Supreme Leader!" He introduces when Akamatsu and Saihara crash into the classroom,his Saihara chan resuming the spot of Akamatsu's shadow.

"Ouma kun." Saihara mumbles.

"Saihara chan!" Ouma beams back.

He leaves Kiibo and latches on to the detective. There's annoyance in Akamatsu's eyes as he tags along with the duo,but Saihara doesn't comment,so Ouma doesn't judge either.

_Akamatsu means nothing to him,and its not like Saihara chan will end up with her anyway._

The pianist whisks Saihara away as soon as the motive is given,and Ouma shrugs and goes on his merry way.

"Hey,Ryoma chan!"

He dispels the air of gloom around the shorter boy with a laugh,and he follows them around until they give him a suitable reaction.

_Good_. He skips off in the opposite direction,with Ryoma glaring at his back.He starts whistling as he passes a classroom and he pretends he doesn't see the way Saihara clutches to Akamatsu's hand like its the only solid thing in his life.

  
Ouma's eyes sting,and he doesn't understand why.He supposes he's just happy Saihara chan's not a smushed corpse under a metal block.

(Saihara's alive,sure,but Ouma can't bear to see him with stupid _Kaede_)

_Oh,whatever_._Who fucking cares._

Ouma sneaks behind a shelf in the library and watches as Amami gets his head bashed in.He watches with the same curiousity as Saihara accuses Akamatsu and sentences her to her execution.

Akamatsu swings from her rope,and its nothing new.

Tenko screams,and Angie prays,and he-

He glares as Saihara sobs in the courtroom,and he's weak,_weak_-

"You're fucking pathetic." He snaps at the crying boy.Saihara jerks back as if he had been slapped,and Ouma knows this isn't the way to Saihara's heart.

_What's the way to win him over then?Lies and Truth and blood and tears?_

"Don't be stupid." He continues. "Don't you remember how you promised Akamatsu chan to get us all out huh?"

"Was that a lie,Saihara chan?"

Saihara stares,lost,and Ouma heaves a loud sigh and he drags the other to their feet.

"You're really dumb for a detective."

_No,you're not._

"But that's okay because you have me!"

The next morning,Ouma kidnaps Saihara's hat,and reverts back to his original self,teasing and bullying with ease.The him that confronted the detective was gone,and he could see the confusion in his classmates eyes as his demeanor changes completely.

"Are you fucking bipolar,Ouma?" Kaito grumbles as a piece of egg hits him in the noise.

"Nah,not really." Ouma lobs another piece of food,grinning maniacally as Kirumi narrows her eyes at the food fight.

"Fuck off,gremlin."

  
"Nishishi."

Ryoma's absent from the meal,and no one notices.

(Ouma does.)

The time comes around for Ouma to start the insect meet and greet,and he eases Gonta into the idea carefully.

_"Don't kidnap Ryoma chan." He warns. "He likes insects already,he told me."_

_"Gonta understands!"_

Ouma starts his collection of Monopads,and he doesn't have to watch them again.

"Hey,Ryoma chan,what's up!Going on your way for your tryst with Mom chan?"

He spun circles around the boy,taunting him until he dragged his hat over his eyes and turned back for his room.Ouma's gaze rested on him watchfully,and he heard Ryoma's door slam and lock.

_Murder prevented._

Triumph took over his mind,and he missed the fickleness of fate.

_What's meant to be must happen,and if destiny doesn't touch one,it steals another._

The next day dawns,and Himiko Yumeno's bones lie at the bottom of a piranha tank.

(Tenko's tears are filled with rage,and she swears bloody revenge on the culprit.)

(Behind the curtain,Kirumi scrubs her hands free of a magician's blood.)

"Mom chan did it!"

Kirumi's accused all the same,and Ouma curses Gonta's simpleminded inability to follow orders.

_"Gonta's sorry!Himiko san ran into bathroom...and gentleman don't go into female bathroom!"_

Fine.Really,it isn't Gonta's fault,its a mistake on Ouma's part.But he needs someone to blame,or else he'll collapse,because its his fault,isn't it?Its his fault again.

_It always is._

Kirumi runs,and she plummets from her spider's thread.Ouma's belief that this time could be different plummets with her,and it crashes apart in a spray of pink and ugly black wires.

(How could this time be different when the truth was that none of them had the power to change anything?)

"Are you okay,Ouma kun?"

Saihara drops by after the trial,and golden eyesscrutinize him with concern.Ouma feels like he's being taken apart and pieced together again,a windup toy under the lenses of a mechanic.

"Yeah,nishishi!Whenever am i not?"

"....."

Saihara chan's silent.

_Whenever am i not indeed._

"Ouma."

"Ryoma chan." Ouma greets back as he whirls to face the smaller boy.Their fish like eyes meet his and Ouma swallows back his nervousness.

"You knew." They accused.

"Knew what?"

"About Kirumi's murder plan."

"Huhhhhh?No i didn't."

Ryoma shakes his head slowly,but doesn't call him out.Maybe they're too tired to. "I wanted to thank you,but you shouldn't have.Better me than her."

"Suicidal much?" 

"....."They don't answer that. 

"Anyway,I just wanted to let you know that I owe you a favour."

_A favour?_Ouma ignores him,and turns to walk away.He definitely doesn't laugh,because seriously?Who sells themselves out by owing people _favours _in such a dumb ruthless game.That's a fucking death wish.

_Ouma laughs,and Ryoma doesn't bother calling after him._

_(Their unforgotten promise haunts Ouma's mind all the same.)_

"Hey,Saihara chan."

Ouma peeks at the detective from behind messy bangs.The two sat across from each other on the floor of Saihara's room,a chessboard between them. "Can i tell you a story?"

"A story?" Saihara doesn't look up from the board. "Sure.Go ahead,Ouma kun."

"So," Ouma starts,idly taking one of the other's pawns. "There was this old dumb king in Greece."

"He got this prophecy from the Fates,which told him that he would die by the hand of his daughter's son.And like every dumb old king ever,he stuck his daughter in a tower to rot,because new flash:Hey he didn't wanna die but whoever does."

"Ouma kun." Saihara chan interrupts. "Are you trying to....tell me something from this?"

"Shut up and let me finish." Ouma orders. "So this daughter ended up with a demigod kid,and the dumb old king sent her off in a box.And happy ending,you know,the kid grows up,and ends up killing his dumb old grandpa with a discus anyway.So that's story finished.

Ouma feels Saihara's gaze on him,and he puts on a grin and meets their eyes. "So now,what's the moral of this,Shumai?"

"What?"

"Come on,gimme the moral.Every myth has one."

Saihara's brows furrow and Ouma can almost see the gears creaking in his head.

"Um..." They answer hesitantly. "Fate can't be prevented?"

"Bingo." 

The detective waits for him to elaborate,and Ouma wants to applaude him,because hell,he knows Ouma never does anything for a reason,much less tell a stupid story,and there must be a hidden meaning he's trying to convey.

"Don't you feel like this game is just like fate?" Ouma keeps his tone casual. "That maybe all of us are puppets on strings and really,all these murders-"

Saihara winces.

"-and deaths are just planned out from a script?I'm betting you've noticed all these motives have special people in mind,Saihara chan."

_Everything was planned out from the start._He doesn't continue._We sold our souls and now our wills are taken over by the demons behind this show.We're just in our preset roles anyway,made to murder and die with just the right circumstances._

Saihara chan hears his words anyway,and there's thoughtfulness in the gold depths of their eyes.

"That's morbid." They say. "But...I can't deny that it sounds true."

Ouma chuckles,but doesn't reply.He watches as the room laspes into silence again,Saihara making another move on the chessboard.

"You're kind of bad at telling stories." The other says,out of the blue. "No offense.

"And you're bad at chess." Ouma counters.

He reaches out to knock down Saihara's black king and lets his white take its place.

"Checkmate."

_Checkmate._

They wake up to Angie's splayed body and Tenko's empty shell caged in the remnants of song.

_Checkmate._

Shinguuji's soundless as his skin bubbles in his boiling pot.

_Checkmate._

Ouma sees the self satisfied tilt of Shirogane's lips as she watches Saihara eye him suspiciously.

(Ouma's shown his hand,and Shirogane's watching him fall.)

_Ouma's the prophet,not the queen._

_(_She'll fall with him.)

The board in Ouma's room is bare,and so is the unfilled notebook that lies abandoned on his floor.He plans and plots,not on paper or with ink,but with the slight respect he has for Shirogane.

_She must be a truly remarkable girl to be able to twist and manipulate with such little care for her 'toys.'_

On the fourth floor,the computer room's door stays locked throughout the night.Ouma resists the urge to point Iruma out when she scuttles past him in the hallway,dark circles under her eyes.She's cowed by him,he knows,but there's a glint of determination in her eyes and she'll go through with her murder plan.

_"Hey,Gonta chan!-"_

Ouma turns his back on the girl who had brought his plans to fruition and prepares the Ultimate Entomologist for his tragic role.

_"Gonta....no think Iruma san would..."_

Reality sweeps away in a wave of cold and pixels,and Ouma finds himself in the lobby of Iruma's virtual world,Gonta by his side.

The other boy's fists are clenched,and Ouma knows they're allies.Gonta,in any world or universe,would never refuse him,and Ouma would use that 'gentlemanly' trait to his advantage.

_He's glad he never got a chance to find out what kind of person Gonta had been before the Killing game._

The two share a glance,and Ouma urges them on to retrieve the Flashback light.

_The sky's blue,not red._

The sky's red as he stands stoic over Gonta's sobbing form.The other discover the Secret of the Outside World._A fraudery,you mean _and their agreement comes through choked cries.

Ouma forces bile down and guides the other to their death.

The sky's blue when Ouma nearly breaks down from relief.Iruma doesn't show up,and the roof is cold and empty,aside from Gonta and Ouma and the programmed snow.

_Maybe she had decided to give up?_

In Ouma's heart,he knows it can"t be that easy.

"Iruma chan?"

It isn"t that easy,and his question is answered by the familiar sight of Iruma's corpse, slumped on her chair in endless sleep.She simply looks unconcious,and her murderer is _really,they are _less cruel than Ouma.

In his mind,Iruma's features are frozen in a strangled scream,fingers clawing at her throat in her desperate attempt to live,and then she's not,and she's just gone.

Gonta's crying again,and from the corner of Ouma's eye,he sees the barest hint of Ryoma's nod.

_Debt paid._

The trial starts and Ryoma confesses to his crime right off the bat.Ouma watches as the Ultimate Tennis Pro is whacked to his bloody death,and this time,no doubt about it,its really his godamn fault.

(He killed Ryoma as surely as the mastermind had.)

_Fucking debts and all they involve.Who gives a shit about honour anyway?_

Ouma's not honourable,but Momota is,and again the self proclaimed hero declares Ouma as the villain.

History repeats its tedious self,and Momota spits blood at Ouma's feet.Maki rushes towards him,and Ouma steps out of her way neatly.

_"You're alone and you always will be." Saihara kneels down by Maki and Momota's side and Ouma waits for him to say his lines._

"Why are you doing this,Kokichi?" Saihara's words tug at him like thorns and their golden gaze meets his,imploringly sad.For a moment,this is Ouma's Saihara chan,the one that tasted of blood and sacrifice and accursed poison.

_"You deserve to live."_

Ouma turns on his heel and flees.

(The look in Saihara's eyes haunt him like a ghost.)

Yet still,Ouma schemes,as fate and his existance dictates so.Gone are his wild tales and petty lies,and he understands the true order he must follow to destroy this hellish game.

The next part is familiar to him,and he navigates through it with ease.

_He avoids looking at Saihara chan all the while._

Everything goes well,and Momota ends up in the hanger,pink petals spluttering from his lips as Ouma plucks the arrow from his back.

"Here." Ouma holds out his peace offering to the Ultimate astronaut.

_Momota eyes it,then takes it from his grasp._

Villain and hero put aside their differences,and Ouma raises his bottle to Momota in a mocking toast.They hesitate,then follows.

_"To fools and trickery._" He says.

_"To fools and trickery." _They force out.

The liquid sears it way down his throat,and he splutters.The antidote twists his guts,and it feels more like poison than cure.

"Ouma will you fucking move."

Momota's breath warms the back of Ouma's bare neck,and he shuffles on their lap.The interior of the Exisal hadn't been designed for a human,let alone two,and they were crammed together uncomfortably.

"Its not my fault you're a fucking fatass." Ouma whines back.

"I'm.not fucking fat." Momota curses as he nearly pilots the Exisal into the wall.

"...Please try not to kill us before Monokuma does,Momo chan."

"Shut up,i'm bloody trying okay?!"

Momota managed to get them to the entrance of the trial room with no other incidents,but he nearly gave Ouma a heart attack when he flipped the Exisal over the podium.

Ouma grabbed onto the astronaut's shirt for dear life,and they chuckle as they flip on the voice recorder.

"Hey whats up,guys?"

The room explodes in excited exclamations at Momota's voice and Ouma can't help but feel slightly bitter.

"There's no way i'll die,y'know?Cause i'm Kaito Momota!Luminary of the stars!"

Revenge is sweet as Ouma jabs his elbow into Momo chan's side,snatching up the recorder.

"But that's a lie!"Ouma proclaims. "Did ya'll miss your favourite Supreme Leader,huh?"

Momota glares,and Ouma takes his place as the star of the show.He gets the trial back on track,and he follows his script by heart as he brings them to a conclusion.

_The audience wants a show,huh?I've give them one._

Saihara chan's beautiful,he thinks,and they're in their element,refuting Ouma's claims and poking holes through his 'evidence'.The boy he once was would be proud of him,Ouma thinks with a shudder,that saliviating,crazed maniac would be.

_But Saihara chan isn't that boy,and he never would be again.Ouma would make sure of that._

"Kaito Momota is the blackened." Saihara decides,and the two in the Exisal breathe a shared sign of relief.They make the vote,and Ouma votes for himself.

_Kaito Momota's the culprit!_ The screen follows and confirms a vote.

_(_Only its not a confirmation because they're all wrong and Ouma wins,wins,_wins)_

"You little brat!" Monokuma's murderous when Ouma hops his way out of the Exisal,Momota clambering down after him.

"You absolute fuckers!I should have you both executed!"

"But that's against the rules." Ouma laughs giddily as he thanks Angie's collection of blood bags in his mind.He knows the bear can"t touch him now,not with what he's done.He knows he's convinced the audience that the show's a sham,and they won't stand for Ouma dying now.

_The show's a sham._

Ouma takes his first step towards clearing the board.

The next day,they find Momota's corpse in his room,neon pink soaking down his front.

(Shirogane's lips curve into a smirk as she stirs milk into her coffee.)

_She'd always been a petty girl._

Maki's a closed off mess,and Ouma pairs her up with Gonta for the last investigation.He hopes its really the last _last_ time they have to do this,and that he'll never have to go back again.

He himself drags Saihara chan off,and they're compliant and willing in his company,convinced of Ouma's innocence from his actions in the last trial.

"Here,Shumai." Ouma takes the Survivors Perk video and set it in his hands with the carefulness of one sliding a wedding ring onto their partner's finger.

Saihara switches it on,and Ouma lets everything change.

_The sixth chapter._

_The last chapter._

"Hey,Saihara chan." 

They stand in a empty classroom-where everything started-and Ouma gazes up at the other boy,unusually serious.

"Whatever happens later,promise me that you won't regret anything."

"What do you mean,Ouma kun?"

"Don't look back on this killing game,okay?Or any of us who won't leave with you!Just move on!."

"Promise me that,no lies!"

Saihara frowns.Ouma's words sound like a death letter,awfully foreboding.But he nods and promises and Ouma reaches up to ruffle his hair with a playful smile.

Saihara chan's cheeks redden slightly as Ouma clings to him in a hug,and Ouma satisfies himself with that slight reaction.

_Its nothing compared to a kiss,he muses,but again,Saihara chan isn't his this time,and he's already pleased that they're not repulsed by him._

The elevator door shuts and they descend into the courtroom.

"Kaede san's innocent."Saihara reopens Akamatsu's case and the trial starts.

"Junko Enoshima the 53rd!"Shirogane screeches as she poses with unmistakable malice.Saihara fights and strips her of her disguises,and she curses him back with equal fervour.She casts the die,and he reels back with daunting horror as he comes face to face with the person he had once been.

_The die is cast._

"You can't do this!"Tsumugi shrieks as she lunges for them,despair swirling in her eyes."You can't,you can't,you can't-"

"We can." Saihara speaks for the survivors as he refutes calmly.He makes the same decision as Ouma did before,and lead them to NOT make a vote.

"The audience won"t let this happen!"

_The audience won't let this happen._

The audience stands aside and lets it happen.The screens behind Shirogane glitch as they turn their backs on Danganronpa and their beloved characters and the voting slots,all of them,are left empty.

_The audience lets it happen._

"I live for Danganronpa!I was brought up for this!" The mastermind wails in disbelief as she's betrayed by her precious audience,and the look in her eyes is one of someone with everything to lose.

_Shirogane's a petty bitch,but Ouma pities her._

_It wasn't like the outside world taught her any better._

_It isn't like the outside world taught any of them any better._

_That's how they all ended up here,after all._

Yes,the outside world was the true culprit.They robbed them of their will,their fate,their choices,all the while loving them,and hating them,and twisting them into characters who they were not.And when their fiction turned reality was not enough to satisfy their wicked lusts,they would let their precious toys drop from their strings and waste away.

(Fiction turned reality was the crime,and the outside world was the blackened)

(Thats the real truth of the Outside World)

_The audience let this happen._

Team Danganronpa lets go of the strings,and Kiibo takes his liberties.He rises to destroy their prison,and unknowingly,or knowingly,the mastermind's betrayed,a plain,wallflower girl,abandoned by the gods she worshipped.

_Shirogane does<s>Doesn't?</s>_ _want this,and Ouma truly,truly pities her from the bottom of his heart._

The four stand upon a lone island of rubble as the fiction crumble to dust around them.They watch,Gonta stricken and Maki aloof as Shirogane waves from the Danganronpa emblem,loyally playing her part to the very end.

Play her part.That's all she ever knows.

_There's terror in her eyes._

Saihara''s grip tightens on Ouma's wrist like its his lifeline.

_"Remember,don't look back!No more lies!Promise me!"_

Ouma wrenches himself free from Saihara's grip.

_"I'm sorry,Saihara chan."_

Ouma runs,and he doesn't turn back.

"Ouma kun!"

Velvet rumples beneath his palms as he shoves Shirogane away.She falls,and he takes her place.

_This was never his choice to make._

Saihara screams,and Shirogane smiles with regret.

She'll live,and he cannot hate her,because she doesn't win,and he doesn't lose.Neither of them had a choice,so the game wasn't fair in the first place.

_All they could ever do was clear the board._

Curtains snap shut on Ouma Kokichi's final performance,and blood splatters a million screens,ringing with the prelude of a empire's fall.

_Its..._

_Game over?_   
  
_Game over._

  
(Huh.That's it?That's the end.Well....that's totally disappointing,isn't it?)

A camera flickers on,and purple eyes stare nervously.

"I....I want to audition for Danganronpa..." b..because.I..I want to mean something...anything.It doesn't matter what you make me..i just want to m..make everyone smile."

The boy smiles wide and honest and he trades his life away.

_He's a blind,naive fool._

(But again,aren't they all?)

Rewind.Turn the clock.Never look back.

  
_.....Nishishi.Miss me,Saihara chan?_

<s>And Ouma Kokichi wakes up.</s>


End file.
